By Curtis Ford, Grambling State Associate AD for Athletic Communications
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Grambling State’s James Flippin scored a career-high 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Tigers fell to Bethune-Cookman 78-71 at Moore Gymnasium on Monday night.
Flippin was 8-of-18 from the field, adding two rebounds and two blocks, in his first double-double effort of the year. Kentavious Dozier was the only other Tiger to reach double-figures, scoring 18 points to go along with three assists and two board.
GSU (9-20 overall, 6-10 SWAC) trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half but battled back to make a game of it in the second half.
Grambling State struggled for much of the first half, finding itself in a 34-15 deficit with 6:44 remaining until halftime.
The Tigers chipped away at the lead, eventually cutting BCU’s lead to 36-30 on an Emeka Nnaji layup with 2:17 on the clock. The Wildcats quickly pushed its cushion back to double digits, going up 43-30 with 1:01 left in the half.
Louis Hutchinson buzzer-beating layup to close the half got the Tigers back within single digits, 43-34, heading into the locker room.
Grambling State began the second half with a 10-3 run, capped by a free throw by Flippin, to cut the BCU’s advantage to 47-44 with 14:24 to play. However, no matter how close GSU got to snagging the lead, the Wildcats would create distance on the scoreboard.
After Bethune-Cookman (15-15, 12-5) pushed its lead back to 13 points, 64-51, with 5:29 to go, GSU made one final dash for the lead. With 1:39 on the clock, Dozier knocked down a deep three to make pull the Tigers back with four, 71-67.
With the Wildcats ahead 75-67, a put back dunk by Flippin followed by a steal and fast break dunk by Chilaydrien Newton made it 75-71 with 30 seconds to go. BCU was able to fight off the Tigers with clutch free throws down the stretch to hand GSU the loss.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Grambling State shot 43.1 percent from the field (25-of-58) and 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from three-point range. GSU was 15-of-25 at the free throw line (60.0 percent).
- Grambling State grabbed 34 rebounds.
- GSU committed 12 turnovers.
- The Tigers scored 34 points in the paint, 17 second chance points, 16 points off turnovers, eight fastbreak points and six bench points.
- Bethune-Cookman shot 51.1 percent from the floor (24-of-47) and 50.0 percent from behind the arc (7-of-14). BCU was 23-of-32 at the charity stripe (71.9 percent)
- The Wildcats pulled down 33 rebounds.
- Bethune-Cookman committed 15 turnovers.
- BCU scored 28 points in the paint, 19 points off turnovers, 13 bench points, 12 fastbreak points and 10 second chance points.
- Bethune-Cookman was led by Trey Thomas who scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-5 from deep. He added three rebounds and a steal.
Up Next
Grambling State returns home to host Alabama A&M on Thursday at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
